Teamsters, Safety Groups Blast FMCSA Pick

It took less than 24 hours for Anne Ferro’s nomination as the nation’s top truck safety official to become embroiled in the dispute over truck driver hours of service.

A coalition led by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters opposes the nomination of Ferro, president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association for the past five years.

Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and other members of the coalition slammed Ferro for allegedly supporting of hours of service rules that allow truckers to drive 11 hours a day. The Teamsters have challenged those rules in court.

“We firmly believe that the individual appointed to this agency should not come from the very industry the agency is required to regulate,” they said in a letter to President Obama.

“Ferro consistently supports the trucking industry party-line on motor carrier issues in opposition to positions taken by consumer, health and safety groups, truck crash victims and their families and the hard-working men and women who drive trucks.”

The letter was signed by Hoffa; John Lannen, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition; Daphne Izer, founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers; and Jennifer Tierney of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, or CRASH.

Before joining MMTA, Ferro was the administrator from 1997 to 2003 and assistant administrator before that, spending a total of 11 years with the MVA.

Contact William Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.